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Valerie Smith
Valerie Smith is one of the few originators of The Princess Thieves gang back in 1999 and is still a current leader as one of the top Soldiers. Her skills in strategy and the ways of fighting a war (on any field) stem from her time as a Sergeant in the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and (beforehand) the Australian Army for which she served almost 12 years (some time during the Gulf Conflict and the early stages of the East Timor Crisis). Personal History Valerie was born in Melbourne, Victoria to parents who had a history with the Australian Army and the ANZACs - her mother an army medic and her father a Lieutenant. Both parents wanted Valerie to adhere to a strict almost Spartan way of living and originally she was going along with the regime until her late teens when she became rebellious. In order to teach their daughter a lesson, Mr and Mrs Smith sent Valerie off to the Australian Defense Force Academy. Initially, she was refused to become a soldier in the armed forces and became relegated to non-combat roles out in the field but eventually with a little dirty bribe from her father, Valerie was accepted as a potential combatant. Most of her service in the Army as a Private and then a Corporal saw her transition from a rebellious youth that could've fit right in with the 1980s-1990s grunge movement to a more intelligent and focused adult - one that actually played a decent role as part of Operations Morris Dance and Habitat. Due to this display of impressive tactical maneuvering and leadership, Smith received a recommendation by the Army to join the Special Air Service Regiment which she accepted. Following SASR engagements in Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Valerie's final port of call was during the crisis in East Timor where her tactical-set mind and wartime experience proved valuable to the armed forces. However, when she was honorably discharged from the force in 2000 with high hopes for the benefits, her parents died in a car accident and this almost left Valerie impoverished and worse, mentally distraught (although temporarily). History with The Princess Thieves Desperate for money, Valerie tried to juggle daytime and night-time jobs but this left her dissatisfied. During these job shifts, however, she met fellow ex-SASR soldiers Annie Draco, Farrah Herron, Mary Raymond and Selina Griffon. All disillusioned with the way life has been treating them in the early 21st century, all 5 decided to quit their worthless jobs and commit petty but risky crimes such as grand theft auto and fraud. Eventually as 2001 progressed in 2002, the five-lady crime ring began raking in more funds and ascending their crimes from petty to grand - committing robberies from banks and department stores within the Sydney CBD (Sydney was where Valerie moved to following her discharge). As their crimes escalated, so too did their area of opportunity - initially, they started out in Sydney but eventually branched out towards Melbourne and Brisbane. This spree continued until New Years Eve 2002 when the ladies tried to steal from the Star Casino in Sydney. The venture failed and Farrah, Mary and Selina all died at the hands of the AFP. Sentenced to a maximum of 20 years without parole, Annie and Valerie were sent to Silverwater Woman's Correctional Facility. Here, they met the fugitive Chen, who is the middle of being extradited to Beijing, and together with 4 years of planning, the trio stage a somewhat daring yet attritional prison escape before fleeing to Shanghai. With little resources at their disposal and exceptional skills at hand, the trio resorted to doing dirty work for local Triads with weapons and cash as payment - weapons and cash that later aided them in raiding a financial firm and stealing assets that would aid in yet another escape, this time to Paris whereupon the trio come across an escaped French prisoner and former GIGN officer Chavron. Throughout the chain of escapades and attritional prison riots, Valerie has proven herself valuable to the planning and execution of crimes across the world - she is, as she like to think of herself, as the 'master of improvisation and orchestration' within her circle of friends. In doing all this, she has been seen as a role model to female pariahs all over the world. In light of this, Valerie decided to form The Princess Thieves as a 'legitimate' criminal organization dedicated to theft, contract killing and prison breaks - even writing a kind of credo for the Thieves to live by as well as an military manual for those who want to be as tactically sound and street-smart like her. Personality Valerie is best known for keeping a cool and calm demeanor about her both in and out of the field. Whenever one of her crew or friends does something wrong or compromises the goals set out, she usually shrugs off the incident until safety is within reach - it is only then will she coolly lets out her anger on those responsible (however she doesn't kill or demote her officers - only reassigning them or keeping them "grounded" for some time). When dealing with people other than her own crew, she passes herself off as very courteous and sometimes posh without being snobby. Her mindset is geared towards tactics and thus she values efficiency and speed highly in her missions although she doesn't mind spraying bullets so long as it allows her to get what she wants. It is also because of this cunning intellect of hers that she abhors the mass killing of civilians (especially children) - only those that stand in her way bite the bullet - and unnecessary torture as she considers them a waste of time and resources. Because of the riches and loot she earns from the crew's heists, Valerie has a knack for the upper-class lifestyle buying out rich and fancy articles of whatever suits her needs (using accounts set up by the Swiss section of the gang) and maybe those of her fellow crew members. She particularly values works of art and vintage cars - and if she can't afford them, she steals them. For the most obvious reasons, Valerie also does her best to stay away from romance and intimacy - only seeking to exploit those whenever she has to play the role of the femme fatale (although there are exceptions - 9 of them actually). Personal Weapons, Skills and Equipment *F88S-A1 Austeyr - Certainly one of Valerie's most prized weapons from her time in the SASR. With its tactical rail, Valerie mounts on it the scopes most necessary for the task at hand - ranging from ACOGs to night-vision and sniper scopes. *H&K USP - Modified to carry one-and-a-half times more ammo than it currently uses and have a flashlight on its tactical rail. *M9 Bayonet - Used by Valerie either by itself or as an rail attachment to her Austeyr and USP. *Tiered Body Armour System - A light and flexible yet very protective body armour that Valerie recently stole from the Army and has been wearing to most of her operations. *Thermal Binoculars - Uses these to scout the area around her and mark her targets, simply, on any occasion - day or night, rain or shine. *Proficient melee combat - From her time in the Australian Army and SASR, Valerie has acquired and practiced martial arts used there such as Military Self-Defence, Freestyle Karate and Hapkido; as of now, she is trying to learn French kickboxing, Aikido and Krav Maga - from Misericorde, Jackal and Spartan, respectively. She also has been learning, over the course of her time as a Thief, to engage in various knife combat techniques such as Eskrima. *Tactical adaptor/Expert planner - One of the most gifted traits the SASR have picked out from Valerie during her time in the Army was her tactically-sound mind; Valerie is able to think quickly and come up with an almost foolproof plan to fit the situation at hand as well as create contingencies in case her initial idea did not work. *Proficiency in survival skills - During her time in the Army, Valerie was placed in hostile environments ranging from the jungle to the desert and (more often than not) she was often forced (not by her superiors, of course) to survive by herself until she could return to base camp. Category:Criminal Organization Leaders Category:Criminals Category:Ex-Military